Current Affairs - May 20, 2017 Current Affairs

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar got the 2014 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace from the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Prize was awarded to ISRO in recognition of its path-breaking achievements culminating in the Mars orbiter mission and its significant contributions in strengthening international cooperation in peaceful use of outer space.

The 24th edition of bilateral maritime exercise "SIMBEX-17" has started between Navies of the Republic of Singapore and India in the South China Sea from May 18 and will continue to May 21, 2017. The purpose of the exercise is to increase interoperability between the two navies as well as to develop common understanding and procedures for maritime security operations. SIMBEX is an acronym for "Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercises".

Shri Madhav Chitale (Expert Member, NGRBA) was appointed as Chairman of the committee. Chitale committee on Desiltation of Ganga has recommended a slew of measures which include study of reach wise sediment transport processes along with establishing annual sediment budgets to guide de-silting activities.

The Indian Men's compound archery team Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju Srither and Amanjeet Singh won compound gold at World Cup stage 1 championships held in Shanghai, China. India beat the United States of America (USA) in the semifinal and Iran in the quarterfinals.

R.R. Laxman of Integral Coach Factory won the All India Open Rapid World Chess Federation (FIDE) Rating Chess Tournament at the Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra, Kolkata. He got 9.5 points defeating Mitrabha Guha who bagged 8.5 points.

India has ranked 154th among 195 countries on healthcare index in Lancet medical journal's report titled 'Global Burden of Disease'. The study points that despite the country's socio-economic development, India has failed to achieve in healthcare goals and the gap between the score and predicted score has widened in the last 25 years.

After analysing the blood of a survivor of the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak,a team of scientists from academia, industry and the government has discovered the first natural human antibodies that can neutralize and protect animals against all three major disease-causing ebolaviruses. It could lead to the first broadly effective ebolavirus therapies and vaccines.

he Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi released a two-part book series on the eminent agricultural scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The series is titled - M.S. Swaminathan: The Quest for a world without hunger. Several Union Ministers and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Swaminathan is known as "Indian Father of Green Revolution" for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.

Air Marshal PN Pradhan appointed as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) (Operations) a key platform to ensure a high degree of synergy between the armed forces. He was closely associated with the induction and operationalisation of Embraer-135 and C-130 fleets in the IAF.

Flipkart is in the first position and remain the most sought-after Indian employers, according to a study by professional networking site LinkedIn. The list including job-seeker reach, engagement and retention.

Srinagar Gets First Semi-Mechanised Car Parking Facility at the old KMD stand on the M. A. Road, it was inagurated by Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti. This car parking facility would be first of its kind in the State as most of the operations done during car parking would be automatic, including collection of fee and receipts. The drivers will have to just place their vehicles over the automated pellet and it would be automatically placed in the available vacant slot.

The Hyderabad-based airline, Turbo Megha Airways flies as TruJet has become the first private airline to get a licence to fly under UDAN, the government scheme for subsidized regional flights. The airline will use three ATR-72 aircraft, and will add more planes later.

Britain's Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta received the title "CEO of the Year" at the prestigious Platts Global Metals Awards in London for his successful acquisitions and his drive to transform the steel industry in the UK, India.

Dr Harsh Vardhan has been given the additional charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) after the death of Minister of State Anil Madhav Dave who held the portfolio under an independent charge. Dr Harsh Vardhan, a senior minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, holds the charge of the ministries of earth sciences and science and technology.

The goods and services tax rate structure for all capital goods and all industrial intermediaries would attract 18% tax. The Capital goods and industrial intermediaries- 28% with small petrol cars attracting a cess of 1% and small diesel cars 3%.